Brush fire chars 20 acres in Arenas Valley

A fire authorities believe was human-caused blackened about 20 acres of grass and brush Monday afternoon near the Whiskey Creek Airport in Arenas Valley.

The Whiskey Creek Firereportedly threatened 15 homes, as well as a hangar at the airport, but firefighters were able to stop the flames’ advance.

“Because they put so many resources on the ground, as well as an airtanker (that dropped a fire-retardant chemical on the blaze), they were able tocontain it quickly,’ Dan Ware, spokesman for the state Forestry Division, told the Daily Press.

“The winds were kind of squirrelly; they were pushing in all directions for a while. That’s why they brought in the airtanker,’ he said.

The fire was in the ForestryDivision’s jurisdiction, as it was on private land. The Silver City and Whiskey Creek fire departments, as well as the U.S. Forest Service, also responded.

The blaze was reported about 2 p.m. Authorities are investigating how it started.

Meanwhile, firefighterscontinue to manage three lighting-ignited wildfires in remote areas of the Gila National Forest “to achieve resource objectives within ponderosa pine ecosystems,’ according to a Forest Service news release.

It explained that personnel are allowing the flames to “burn litter and release soil nutrients.’

The three blazes are: • The Diamond Fire, which has burned 7,256 acres in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, 45 miles northeast of Silver City; • The 5,200-acre Willow Fire, 14 miles northeast of Reserve and eight miles southeast of Apache Creek; and • The Meason Fire, which has scorched 2,282 acres, about 35 miles north of Silver City.

In another incident, two fire engines and eight firefighters were dispatched Sunday to the Soldier Fire, about six miles north of Mimbres and just west of New Mexico 35.

Gila National Forest personnel controlled the fire at five acres by mid-afternoon. Authorities have determined the blaze was human-caused. An investigation is under way.